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A Look at the Current Texas Legal Job Market

Not to be Debbie Downer, but numbers don’t lie—the legal job market in Texas isn’t getting better yet. However, data shows that law schools in Texas might have adjusted to the bum job market by declining enrollment, leading to fewer law graduates and new lawyers finding jobs.

The number of law school graduates in Texas has dropped by 10 percent over the past five years, and yet the employment and unemployment rates have barely wavered. This has led to 11 percent fewer grads finding jobs in 2016 compared to 2012.

Texas Lawyer analyzed five years of data that the nine Texas law schools submitted to the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. The data shows law grads’ employment status within nine months of graduation, and the sectors where the employed grads went to work.